Strand D - Children and ‘Return’ Migration: Children’s and young people’s experiences of moving to Ireland with their return migrant parent(s)

Dr. Caitriona Ni Laoire

This research is funded by the EU Commission through a Marie Curie Excellence Grant.

Introduction

Returning Irish migrants are a numerically important and often overlooked in-migrant group in contemporary Ireland. A significant number of the 1980s generation of emigrants have been returning to Ireland in recent years, many of them with children who were born elsewhere, reflecting a strong desire among return migrants to bring up their children in Ireland. These children and young people are a particularly under-researched group, a generation who have been born in England, the US or elsewhere, into an Irish migrant family, and have ‘returned’ to live in Ireland in recent years with their parents. The notion of ‘coming home’ for them raises many issues of identity and belonging. On the one hand, they are likely to share similar experiences with other migrant children, associated with moving from a familiar to an unfamiliar place, and with possible experiences of dislocation, loss and exclusion. On the other hand, their familial ties and support structures in Ireland, and their pre-migration knowledge of Ireland, are likely to be stronger or more complex than they are for other immigrant children.

This new research aims to contribute to understandings of the experiences of children and young people who move to Ireland with their return migrant parent(s) and, in this, to prioritise the voices of the children themselves.

The research explores:

• the migration experiences, everyday lives and social worlds of children and young people who move to Ireland with their return migrant parent(s)

• family, kin and intergenerational relations in the context of return migration

• negotiation of identities among children of return migrants

 

Methodology

The methodology draws on recent developments in children’s geographies and new social studies of childhood. It is guided by the principle of children’s and young people’s agency and subjectivity, as well as the ‘children in families’ approach. The approach will be primarily qualitative, incorporating participatory and child-centred techniques, together with some background analysis of Census 2006 data.

The research involves undertaking participative activities with children and interviews with parents. These usually take place over the course of two to three visits to participants’ homes. The activities with the children are adapted to their ages, and include activities such as artwork, ‘play and talk’, photography, discussion and diaries. Interviews are also conducted with adults who themselves moved to Ireland with return migrant parents when they were younger.

 

Contact details:

If you would like to get involved in any way, or would like some more information, do not hesitate to get in touch.

Dr. Caitríona Ní Laoire

Marie Curie Migrant Children Project

Department of Geography

6 Bloomfield Terrace